Peugeot 308SW

Going through choices for a replacement mid-sized petrol estate, on the list are the usual suspects of Octavia, Focus and VW golf but I’m also considering the 308SW as it has excellent boot space and looks half decent. Every review I’ve watched though berates the touch screen control which is used for most functions. So – anyone got one and is it as bad as they make out? Any other issues with this model (1.2 petrol engine, manual gearshift)
Ta.

I had a 1.6 diesel so can’t comment on the petrol engine/gearbox combo. Did over 80,000 miles in 4 years with no trouble. It was a company car so end of lease was the only reason for changing.

Mate had an Octavia estate and thought the pug boot was bigger. Think it had less wheelarch intrusion.

No issues with the touchscreen – I liked it as it made for a cleaner dash. I hate sat navs that stick out of dashes as if they’re an afterthought.

Despite being French, had no electrical issues in 4 years.

508SW here, not sure if it’s the exact same touchscreen but I have no complaints other than the radio comes back on at sand volume it was turned off at, I frequently listen to podcasts via Carplay/Bluetooth which means the radio comes on at a high volume!

Great car, no problems in three years. You do have to adjust your habits because everything is pretty much controlled by touchscreen. Make sure you lower radio volume and turn off air conditioning/heating before you get out of the car so you don’t get deafened, frozen or boiled when you get back in the following morning. I seem to recall it could take thirty seconds or so before it would allow any adjustment.

No experience of the car, but have used the engine in a smaller peugeot, and (i think) it’s also fitted to the newish vauxhall corsas.
Utterly superb, smooth, quiet, had enough power for the cars i was in (100bhp i think)
In fact, I’m sold on the whole idea of small petrol turbo engines because of it.

Had the 308 hatch in Majorca for a week, from Europcar if I remember correctly

It was petrol and DSG – so I assume the same engine. Proper little pocket rocket with that gearbox, very very smooth and quiet at the same time

I remember hating the touch screen – you have to use it even for heating. Bonkers. The armrest was naff too. But nice little car we all thought it looked really cool.

Getting back into my focus though you notice just a fairly significant bump in ‘sturdiness’ etc, and nice/safer having proper buttons.

I had a 3008 for a short time, 2019 plate with the touchscreen. It had shortcut buttons to get to different menus eg heating and music but I was glad to get back in my normal car that had proper nobs and buttons for heating and volume controls. I found navigating the menu to make simple adjustments distracting from what was going on on the road.

No experience of the car, but have used the engine in a smaller peugeot, and (i think) it’s also fitted to the newish vauxhall corsas.
Utterly superb, smooth, quiet, had enough power for the cars i was in (100bhp i think)
In fact, I’m sold on the whole idea of small petrol turbo engines because of it.

My mum’s got one of these, the Peug 208. Superb car. Really well designed and drives so smoothly.

Talking about modern, small size turbo petrol engines, I had a Focus Ecoboost (the 123 bhp version) for 4 years and that went like poop off a stick for the type of car it was.

just remembered, only have one cup holder was shite too

Thanks for the comments, seems to be the same mixed reviews of it being a decent engine and boot space compromised by the touchscreen display controls. I’ll try and get a test drive in one but I’m guessing this is the kind of thing that doesn’t affect a test drive, rather you either get used to it and it’s a non-issue or you grow to loathe driving the car because of it. I’m worried I’ll fall into the latter.

I had a 307 SW and while it was a good price and size it was initially very unreliable as various engine sensors failed repeatedly (1-6l petrol as I recall). Once that settled down the engine and chassis bits, suspension, brakes were very good. However anything above those parts was pretty cheaply made and little bits here and there broke over the next 7,8 years.
Also the handling was pretty odd as I think they’d stretched a normal 307 and then fiddled with the steering to account for that. In a striaghtline it was ok, but bends could be hard work

I wouldn’t buy another Peugot

I have the same engine in a New shape Berlingo. Great little engine with a lot of torque for it’s size. Gets 50+ mpg on a long journey, and that’s in a bigger car.

Pulls fine with 2 people and 2 bikes.